Question of the Day, July 8, 2010

[DTWolfwood]

Doesnt matter to me. Since its pretty Common

Danny Tan btw

Notice y im DT Wolfwood :O hehe

 

[Orange Monkey]

A complicated question. On one hand it would certainly discourage trolls and flamers, and cause people to voice their opinions in a more elegant manner, hence making forums more a place to have intelligent discussions rather than a panel of gaggling idiots.

On the other hand their is the obvious privacy situation. In this day and age, with social networking and email addresses being ubiquitous, it is exceptionally easy to find intimate details about anyone with just their name, this could lead to several cases of identity theft, stalking, psychological terror and blackmail. This could also lead to severe emotional injury, especially if the forum is about a topic that a person would rather keep hidden from his friends and relatives. His secret could become exposed and jeaprodize his lifestyle and mental stability.

Their is a reason that people use Pseudonyms on the internet, it is for protection. Knowledge is power, and in an age where Knowledge is so readily available, giving away our names could result in people having power over us.

 

[Snarky Username]

I wouldn't be afraid at all, I doubt anyone would be able to find me purely based on my name, and most Escapist users already have their facebook profiles linked to their name anyways. I don't know about using it on WoW forums, though, I used to play WoW, and the forums could get pretty bad at times. I don't like the thought of one crazy person getting my name and using it to hunt me down and stab me in my sleep...

 

[Assassin Xaero]

I have no problem with it... if someone really wanted to find out my name it wouldn't be that hard... it's not like my facebook is linked to this site or anything like that where they could just click it and see my name... oh wait... >_>

 

[ZephrC]

I for one completely despise the douchebaggery that anonymity encourages, and I think the super scariness of having people know who you are is vastly overrated.

I'm Nicholas Coffin, in case you were curious. The one from Lakewood, WA, USA if that wasn't specific enough for you. With that I'm sure you can find my address and phone number and maybe even a few other terrible things like that. Oh noes, I're gonna die nows!

 

[Serenegoose]

No. I'll share my name with people who I actually know, but not anybody else. I do not want my name being easily accessible to whoever. It probably already is, but I think the very idea of having to put effort into it probably acts as a good barrier against harassment. I use the internet to get away from people being unpleasant to me, and a pseudonym is part of making sure things stay that way.

 

[Rakkana]

If you ask me for my name after telling me yours I will tell you. I won't go out of my way to reveal it though.

 

[Proteus214]

I really don't see an issue with it, but then again I typically don't make colossal ass out of myself on any forums or the internet in general. From what I have seen, the only real ways to raise the ire of the internet are to either be an outspoken Scientoligist or abuse cats on YouTube. If you can just avoid those, I think you're safe.

 

[Chimaera]

On the other hand, a ton of people do provide their real name online on a regular basis. They put them into web forms, put them in their emails, post them on their blogs, on social sites, and in forums. All of our staff put their real names into their profiles, if that's not their username to begin with. We also require our writers to publish under their real names, unless they have a professional reason to use a pseudonym.

I think as many of the staff can attest, I'm a relatively reluctant and private person to a degree (yes, I've loosened up over the years A LOT - people can now take my picture without me glaring at them like they're paparazzi, for example, but is my facebook a completely open book to the world? No it is not. ). I think the main issue comes down to lack of perceived choice and control in the matter when it comes to 'taking away' something that users have grown accustomed to having in the first place, or providing reasonable alternatives for those people who cannot feel any type of comfortable using their real name online. It is a tricky slope, and I see a lot of "it isn't a problem for me, so it's fine" that goes around with these type of discussions - which discounts a lot of people with real stories and real issues, and is frankly, a bit insensitive.

Then again, we're not a large massively multiplayer game here either (where I do object to this sort of thing happening) so this topic has personally given me a lot to think about.

 

[Bigeyez]

What I find extremely funny about this thread is that many of the people commenting here have their names listed in their Escapist profiles. (As do I) In some cases they have both their first and last names and lo and behold viewing their profile shows me the first and last names of all the people they have befriended on the Escapist (as long as they've filled out that section in their profile).....hmmm doesn't that sound EXACTLY like the system people are complaining that WoW is trying to implement?

Edit: At the end of the day the RealID system is a stupid idea and is Blizzards attempt to reach new users. I'm sure that if this goes through we'll not only see armory links on Facebook but forum links as well.

 

[Estocavio]

I wouldnt care really, since people would just put longer usernames in the firstname lastname slots -- Mine would be Esto Cavio for example

 

[Epitome]

For professional reasons I wouldnt want to.

All the times here I have debated about piracy, the right to life, hell the entire religeon and politics forum on the escapist. I have some views that would be very unpopular in my social circles, so i keep them to myself. I dont want any potential employers seeing how much time I spend playing games, or that I like to rp or how much I liek to get drunk at weekends? Which way I lean politically all of it contained in debates here. While Im not overly cautious and you could probablyu find out who I am from here, you cant take my name and get here. Least not without considerable effort. Thats how I like it.

 

[Epitome]

What I find extremely funny about this thread is that many of the people commenting here have their names listed in their Escapist profiles. (As do I) In some cases they have both their first and last names and lo and behold viewing their profile shows me the first and last names of all the people they have befriended on the Escapist (as long as they've filled out that section in their profile).....hmmm doesn't that sound EXACTLY like the system people are complaining that WoW is trying to implement?

My problem is with the reverseal, people here could probably track me down but I liek it here and Ive never felt that threat. Its more people with my real name tracking down the alias I use that worries me.

 

[craddoke]

I don't see a problem with some forums requiring real names - it changes the nature of the venue and will no doubt change the posting habits of some, but I would think there is room for both kinds of places (i.e., those with and without anonymity) in the vastness of the internet. Now if every place started requiring real names that would be unfortunate - and, indeed, the integration of facebook with many other sites/services is a troubling development in terms of forcing one's identity into the open as others have mentioned.

 

[Bigeyez]

What I find extremely funny about this thread is that many of the people commenting here have their names listed in their Escapist profiles. (As do I) In some cases they have both their first and last names and lo and behold viewing their profile shows me the first and last names of all the people they have befriended on the Escapist (as long as they've filled out that section in their profile).....hmmm doesn't that sound EXACTLY like the system people are complaining that WoW is trying to implement?

My problem is with the reverseal, people here could probably track me down but I liek it here and Ive never felt that threat. Its more people with my real name tracking down the alias I use that worries me.

Oh I completely understand you. And in this day and age where an employer can potientially fire you because of some comment you made on some random forum 5 years ago it is a bit disturbing to think that even on the internet you can't really express yourself or your ideas anymore.

 

[thenumberthirteen]

Well people are always giving away personal information on sites like Facebook and Twitter. I have little problem with using my real name here. It's on my profile. The trouble I see is many people have the same name. When you make a username it has to be unique and the reason for that is to prevent confusion and impersonation.

 

[Nautical Honors Society]

People can find out a lot about you with just your name...so I'd rather keep my life private from the internet.

 

[Marter]

It would be harder to recognize names, at least for a little while, I think.

I'd do it though, I mean, my name's already in my profile. If people want to see it, they can.